Holding SMAs up to Higher Standards

As much as separately managed account managers want to comply with the Association of Investment Management Research's performance standards to strengthen their clients' trust, they are hampered by the strong controls that sponsor firms have over their retail SMA accounts.

Scott Sipple, managing director with AllianceBernstein and a member of the AIMR Liaison Committee of the Money Management Institute, says that even if sponsors were willing to share retail client information, they would most likely have to move their portfolio accounting systems to open architecture. And with the cost falling most heavily on sponsor firms, that would take a great deal of persuasion, Sipple says.